funeral ballad, stranger things

vi. if the world was ending (and it was)

Alison smiled genuinely for the first time in two days when she looked back at Thea, "Holy shit, you did it!"

"I did it." She repeated giddily. The relief on her face was evident, and Alison understood why.

While Thea excelled in Math and Music, her downfall was History and English, and with just barely scraping her allowance into junior year, Alison and Thea knew that it was cause for repeating. Thea was determined not to stay at Hawkins High a term longer than she had to. Getting her first D grade in history so early in the school year was the first step, a big one.

"This is amazing!"

"Right? I'm totally wigging out right now." Thea exclaimed. She practically bounced in her chair in her excitement.

"I am so fucking proud of you." Alison told her, "I want to frame this."

"Oh, get in line, bitch." Thea said. She jumped out of her seat and took a bow, laughing all the while when Alison applauded her, despite all the looks they garnered, "I declare that this is the year of Thea Thornton. I am going to make Click's class my bitch!"

"Totally!"

✦❀✦

Alison undid the lock that kept Will's bike secure and placed the bar into her bag, which she hiked over her shoulder. Teenagers rushed by her, barely glancing her way as she pulled the bike from the rack. She removed the headphones around her neck and placed them over her ears.

As she began to walk the bike toward the road, she reached for her Walkman. Before Alison could hit play and allow the soothing tones of Stevie Nicks to dull the rest of her senses, she caught sight of her brother's car.

Or, more particularly, who surrounded the back end of the vehicle, staring down her little brother who was attempting to get by them to his car.

"For fucks sake." She groaned, and she slid the headphones from her head. They dangled from her neck as she switched directions and walked up the incline to the parking lot, just as Steve rifled through a bookbag that certainly didn't belong to him, with Carol and Tommy H and Nicole crowding around him.

Alison was halfway up the slope when she noticed Steve holding multiple photographs in his grasp, passing them around to his friends, who were all making faces. Alison couldn't see her brother's face with his back to her, but she could see the others, and it didn't look like a happy conversation.

Then again, Steve Harrington and his friends never really had happy conversations with people like her and her brother.

"Yeah, this isn't creepy at all." Carol crowed

"I was looking for my brother!" Jonathan seemed to stumble over his words, and Alison picked up her pace, pushing the bike a little quicker as Steve's face contorted angrily.

"No, no, this is called stalking." He rejected Jonathan's defence, and Tommy voiced his agreement like a good little puppy.

Typical.

Alison left the bike leaning against the fence and took a few more steps, stopping a foot away from Steve and Jonathan.

"What the hell is going on?" She demanded, glaring at Carol when she mumbled a nonsense insult at the sight of her.

Nancy had also appeared, staring at the scene before her with a frown, "What's going on?"

"Here's the starring lady!" Tommy jeered, and Alison felt her brows furrow as she looked from the group leaning all over her brother's car to an equally confused Nancy and then to Jonathan.